On Complicity and Compromise

Chiara Lepora and Robert E. Goodin

Abstract

We hear allegations of complicity all the time. Yet there are many ways of being mixed up with the wrongdoing of others. Not all of them are morally on a par; some are worse than others. Furthermore, contributing complicitly to wrongdoing, while still wrong in itself, might nonetheless be the right thing to do if that is the only way to achieve some greater good. Drawing on deep scholarship in philosophy, law and political science, and on a wealth of practical experience delivering emergency medical services in conflict-ridden settings, Lepora and Goodin summarize their analysis in a formula t ... More

We hear allegations of complicity all the time. Yet there are many ways of being mixed up with the wrongdoing of others. Not all of them are morally on a par; some are worse than others. Furthermore, contributing complicitly to wrongdoing, while still wrong in itself, might nonetheless be the right thing to do if that is the only way to achieve some greater good. Drawing on deep scholarship in philosophy, law and political science, and on a wealth of practical experience delivering emergency medical services in conflict-ridden settings, Lepora and Goodin summarize their analysis in a formula that can be used as a decision heuristic. Its usefulness is illustrated by applications both to stylized philosophical examples and to vexing cases of complicity in the real world, such as the complicity of humanitarian aid organizations with genocidaires controlling Rwandan refugee camps and the complicity of physicians treating patients who are being subjected to torture.

Chiara Lepora and Joseph Millum 1*

End Matter

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